The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-26
THE RoTHsCHILDs
Mayer and the Great House He
Founded Nathan and the Other Five
From. the london Times.

mouse in the Frankfort Judengasse in 1913,
was the real founder of the firm, though his
father had been a trader before him, deal
ing in curiosities in a small way and travel
ing the country with pack and donkey.
Young Mayer, with the trading instinct
which seems the birthright of the Jews,
showed more than their ordinary CONNER
nial precocity. A school-bov of IL he was
already dealing in coins and laying the
foundation of future business connection.
His father had meant him for the church.
or rather for the synagogue. but the trading
spirit was too strong, and he came home to
settle in the Judengasse He did not stay
there long, for his reputation as a man of
banking firm of the Oppenheims They
appreciated him, and he had fair prospects
OF advancement, but with all his caution
and prudence he had dash of the advent
urer, and determined to set up upon his
own account. Very soon he had a variety
Of irons i'll the fire. From buying and
selling curiosities and objects of art he
quickly developed into banker and finan-
cier. He impressed all with whom he came
in contact with the sense of his capacity. A
fortunate acquaintance he had formed in
troduced him to the Landgrave of Hesse,
who Entrusted him with the administration
Of his vast private means, and that proved
the turning point of the Rothschild'S own
fortunes. The Landgrave, who had made
himself specially obnoxious to Napoleon by
selling his subjects into the English and
Prussian services, fled before the advance
of the French The story of how he gave
his treasures into Rothschild's charge has
been told in many ways and with much
fanciful embroidery. The facts are simply
that Rothschild managed to remit the
money to his son Nathan, who was already
in business in London. After the peace it
was all honorably accounted for and duly
repaid-principal and interest. The prbity
and ability of the Rothschilds were at once
extensively advertised. But i'll the mean
time a singularly bold and lucrative specua-
ton had redounded still more to their
credit The Duke of Wellington, during
the peninsular campaign, had been suffering
from the precariousness of specie supplies.
The English government was greatly en-
barrassed, for no bankers would undertake
the responsibility of transmitting them
Then Rothschild came forward and formally
undertook the contract on heavy commits
sion. For eight years he is said to have
cleard 9150000 annually, and his success
NAV have been due to the international re-
lations he had already established, for Mr..
Reeves hints elsewhere that he had been
bribing the French officials. Be that as it
may, be gained the confidence of our gov
eminent, and the consequence was that he
had the profitable charge of renting the
enormous subsidies to the Continental
princes in our pay When Mayer Amschel
died, like one of the old monarchs, he sum-
moned his five sons to his death bed to give
them his best advice The advice was to
remain faithful to the Jewish law, to remain
united to the end, and to do nothing without
consulting their mother. observe these
three points," said the dying capitalist,
land you will be rich among the richest,
and the world will belong to you
The sons fulfilled to the letter the precept
that enjoined harmonious combination; till
lately they kept all the money i'll the family
by intermarrying, but they achieved their
financial supremacy by separating and start
ing new centers of activity in some of the
chief capitals of Europe. While the eldest
son remained in Frankfort his four younger
brothers were directing houses in London,
Paris, Naples and Vienna. They controlled
the bouFses, as they had the ear of the
cabinet; they were called into consultation
when loans had to be raised in contemplation
of breaches of European peace: they are
supposed to have sometimes averted wars
by simply refusing to draw their purse
strings; and once, as a condition of furnish
ing Indispensable supplies, they forced an
unwelcome finance minister on the tyrant
at Naples. As a rule, however, they seem
to have conducted their financial arrange
mentS from the purely business point of
view and they insured the success of their
speculations and the accuracy of their
cosmopolitan information by establishing
agencies with leading mercantile houses all
over the world. Naturally they provoked
envy and jealousieS. But in their united
strength and with their admirable organi-
zation it became difficult to compete with
them and impossible to crush them. The
few spectators who had the courage to
make the attempt invariably had reason to
repent it. 1t was only comparatively
recently, when the conditions of State finan-
ciering had changed and the States were
appealing directly to their Subjects that an
international coalition could be formed
sufficiently formidable to hold the great
monopolists in check. The remarkable
feature in the rise of the Rothschilds was
the thoroughly cosmopolitan manner of
managing their business They had no
prejudices, no principles and no patriotism.
For example, "while on the one hand they
provided supplies for the armies Of Napoleon,
on the other they raised loans for his foes"
Nathan Mayer, the first head of the Eng
fish firm, was the ablest of the five sons.
Millionaire as he was, his lot was far from
an enviable one; his hot pursuit of money
gave him neither leisure nor rest; he direct
ed everything. His couIiers were coming
and going at all hours, and even when he
retired for the night he was never sure that
he might not be reused up to read and
answer important dispatches. He had
staked everything on the permanence of the
peace of 1914, and during 1.-THE hundred
days. his anxiety was intense Eager to
know the best or the worst as soon as posi-
BILE, he had driven out to an eminence
commanding the battlefield In the joyful
reaction after the decisive repulse of the
French his overstrained strength was ready
to succumb. But he hurried back to Brus-
sells, and thence to England, br1bing the
Boulogne fishermen to put to sea in danger
ously tempestuous weather. He had his
time of anxiety, but, worn out as he was,
he resolved to recoup himself for it. Next
morning he was standing in the Stock Ex-
change under the familiar pillar.
His face was sad to degree,
and to those who s. yentured TO
to question him he did not hesitate to con
fide the defeat of the Prussian forces at
Ligny His known brokers were selling
freely, and alarm soon passed into panic.
Meantime secret agents were busily buying,
and the sums he cleared must have been
almost in proportion to the number of
victims his strategy ruined Nathan Mayer
was anything but an attractive character,
as he must have been a miserable man. His
disposition was not only money getting, but
grasping on the strength of his enormous
riches he permitted himself almost brutal
license Of speech; by his will he did not be-
Queath shilling even to those who had
labored indefatipably in his service, and as